Chapter 637: Stone Carved Beasts

Stepping through that gate, Ye Feng felt as if in a flash, he found himself in another place.
“What place is this?” Ye Feng realized he was in a stone forest, with oddly shaped stone carvings everywhere—some depicting humans, others alien races, and even various mythical beasts.
“Next, the third trial begins,” the Voice of Heaven spoke again. “Choose one of these stone carvings and engrave secret patterns on it. The more patterns you engrave, the better.”
Ye Feng frowned slightly, thinking to himself, “What kind of trial is this? If it’s just about engraving patterns, I could finish all ten thousand patterns I’ve learned in less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea…”
At that moment, the Voice of Heaven explained, “The location for engraving the patterns isn’t restricted, but it will affect the fourth trial, as you’ll need to use the carved statues in battle. Once the patterns are engraved, the statues will come back to life.”
With this explanation, Ye Feng immediately understood the key to the third trial—it wasn’t about how quickly he engraved the patterns, but about engraving them in the correct places. He also realized the true purpose of this trial: it was to test his understanding of secret patterns.
“Is there a time limit for this trial?” Ye Feng asked.
“There is no time limit. Once you finish engraving the patterns, the fourth trial will begin automatically,” the Voice of Heaven replied.
The lack of a time limit relieved Ye Feng a bit, allowing him to focus on figuring out how to engrave the patterns. Still, he had his own deadline in mind, as he planned to participate in the Genius Competition afterward. Missing it would mean losing ten days of insight time, which he couldn’t afford.
The stone forest didn’t restrict Ye Feng’s movements. He could teleport, fly, and use his soul power to explore freely, though he couldn’t reach the boundaries of this area. Here, he could fully unleash his strength.
He flew along, searching for the stone carving he wanted.

In fact, Ye Feng came from Earth and was a true native of China, so he naturally had an inexplicable fondness for dragons. If not for Xiao Yu’s unusual behavior years ago, he would have chosen a dragon as his pet long ago. Of course, this affection never diminished. This is why, even after arriving in the Divine Realm where he encountered many divine beasts with special bloodlines, he still chose Qingwen. Although Qingwen’s bloodline couldn’t evolve into a dragon, the giant python was undoubtedly the creature closest to a dragon.

In this stone forest, there were hundreds of carved animal sculptures, including nine types of dragons, of which only two met Ye Feng’s standards for a dragon. One was a noble golden dragon, while the other was a ferocious black dragon.

In fact, the golden dragon was slightly larger than the black dragon, so in terms of carving difficulty, the golden dragon should have been the better choice. But Ye Feng preferred the black dragon’s bold and aggressive demeanor, so he chose the black dragon that seemed to be soaring into the air.

After selecting the statue, Ye Feng began to examine the overall structure of the dragon’s body.

“There are undoubtedly four claws, the mouth, and the tail for attacking,” Ye Feng said as if to himself. “Secret patterns for attacks should be carved prominently in these areas. The scales have strong defensive capabilities, so numerous defensive secret patterns must be carved…”

Days passed by, and it took Ye Feng nearly three months to carve all ten thousand secret patterns he had learned. After completing the carving, he looked at his work with satisfaction. Moments later, the scales of the black dragon began to change, shifting from the original stone-black color to a vibrant black that even had a mirror-like surface, reflecting Ye Feng’s figure.

The changes started from the tail and quickly spread to the head. In just a few breaths, the stone sculpture transformed into a living creature that soared into the sky, leaving Ye Feng in awe.

“This…” Ye Feng stared upward with his mouth agape. Although the Heavenly Dao had warned him before, he thought it would only be the stone sculpture moving, not actually turning into a real black dragon. Only now, seeing it with his own eyes, did he feel truly shocked.

“Roar~~~” A dragon’s roar echoed throughout the stone forest, seeming to vent pent-up resentment sealed within the stones, as well as declaring its return to the world.

The black dragon circled in the sky several times before slowly descending and coiling in front of Ye Feng, its crimson eyes fixed on him.

At this moment, the voice of the Heavenly Dao sounded again, “You have passed the third test. Now, this stone statue has been revived. However, it is like a newborn baby at the moment and doesn’t know how to fight. If you want to win, you must control it to fight. During the battles, it will quickly gain combat experience and become a true warrior.”

“For the fourth test, you must control it and complete nine battles. After that, I will reward you based on your performance. Initially, I planned to give you five stone statue beasts if you won all nine battles. But since you performed very well in the second test, my plan is to give you several stone statue beasts depending on how many battles you win.” The Heavenly Dao outlined all the rewards after completing this test.

However, Ye Feng wasn’t very satisfied. “Master, one stone statue beast is enough for me to control. I can’t manage more. To me, five and nine make no difference.”

“The other stone statue beasts aren’t for you to use but to be consumed by yours,” the Heavenly Dao said, leaving Ye Feng stunned. “Each stone statue beast can only have ten thousand secret patterns engraved on it. To further enhance its level, you must make it consume other stone statues. Each one consumed adds ten thousand more spaces for engraving secret patterns.”

“I see.” Ye Feng’s heart surged with excitement. He naturally knew the effects of engraving secret patterns. If his stone statue beast consumed two other statues, he could engrave thirty thousand secret patterns on it. By then, it might even be strong enough to rival him at the Star Universe level. With all thirty thousand secret patterns engraved, the beast would be able to use all the powers they encompassed, including those Ye Feng had never even explored before, and wield them at full strength. This made Ye Feng quite eager. He could hardly imagine how powerful the stone statue beast with a hundred thousand engraved patterns would be if he won all nine battles.

“The challenge begins now!” As soon as the Heavenly Dao’s voice faded, the entire stone forest began to tremble, and a giant stone statue came back to life…